


The Captive

by Pixie Unger (Pixel_Runner)



Category: Dragons - Fandom, Original Work, exophilia - Fandom
Genre: Dragons have no tact, I hate tagging, It Was A Dark And Stormy Night, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:54:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Runner/pseuds/Pixie%20Unger
Summary: Elly inherited her aunt's wool shop.  It came with some baggage.George has been in the family for generations.  He's lonely.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

It was pouring rain and the staff all knew that no one was going out in that to buy a skein of alpaca and a chocolate croissant. Not even if they were made with the good chocolate. “Go home, Ben. It’s been a long day. You work hard and have earned some time off.”

Ben hesitated, “You sure, Elly?”

That was when the power went out. “Well, I am now,” Elaina replied. 

In the faint light seeping in through the windows, Ben took off his apron and tossed it into the laundry hamper. He had the lean look of someone who was a tall 98 pound weakling in high school and was now a daily visitor to the gym. He had some muscle mass but would never be the bulky guy he wanted to be. His thick dark brown hair was cropped close in an attempt to keep it from sticking up in odd ways. This was an improvement over his previous cut where he looked like he was wearing a hat made of hair. His cheekbones were sharp. His nose was a long and straight with a hint of the freckles he had as a kid. His eyebrows were not thick but they were expressive. All and all, he looked like someone who, should they need to be described in a single word, the word would be sharp. Or possibly angular. 

He kissed Elly’s cheek on his way past, “Lock the door behind me, ok?”

She nodded and flipped the open sign to closed When Ben left, she locked the deadbolt and put the security chain in place. Normally at the end of the day, she would wash the kitchen towels, the linen napkins and Ben’s apron.

_ Straw into Gold _ was in an old three story house. The kitchen was now a commercial kitchen. The dining room was the cafe. The rest of the house had been opened up to sell wool, yarn, dyeing supplies, spinning wheels and looms. The fireplace was still there in the parlour, still working. There was a circle of arm chairs arranged around it where the knitting groups could meet and not be near the cafe crumbs. 

Elly would have to wait for the last of the fire to burn down before going upstairs. She dug out a book and a flashlight before curling up in her favourite chair to read by the window. There was a flash of lightning moments before a crash of thunder rattled the window. She muttered under her breath, but otherwise ignored it.

Twenty minutes later she was scooping ashes into a metal bucket near the fireplace and thirty minutes later she was checking to make sure all the switches were set to off before letting herself through the staff only door to the basement. There was a candle and a box of matches on the top step. She tried to strike a match by feel when George laughed from somewhere below her.

“I could do that for you, you know.”

“Thanks,” she snarked, “but I happen to like having eyebrows.” She made sure the candle was lit before carefully going do the steep and narrow stairs. “How are you doing down here? Any water getting in?”

George yawned hugely, showing off a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. “Nope. That weeping tile you had installed really made a difference. I am warm and dry.”

“It’s getting a bit cold up there, think you could turn up the heat a little?”

George smirked, “Is there any of the boy’s baking left?”

Elly nodded.

George’s scales started to glow faintly, “I think arrangements could be made.”

Elly brought down all the leftover baking, a copper kettle full of water, a lemon ginger tea bag and a fancy cup and saucer that had been her aunt’s favourite before Ina had passed away a few years ago. The cafe used all antique china, but there were still a few special pieces that spent most of their time in the curio cabinet in the corner.

The kettle was set on the floor and George wrapped his tail around it. The floor and walls were all old masonry, so the risk of fire was low. The only furniture down here was a large wingback chair in brown leather, and a small ornate side table in carved from a single piece of dark walnut. The table currently had a camping LED lantern sitting on it. George didn’t like the light it gave, but Elly had put her foot down. She didn’t like the candle smoke.

She munched a slice of chocolate cranberry bread as she tossed baking at George. He caught them out of the air like a dog snapping at treats.

Around a mouthful of brioche, he asked, “Would you sleep down here tonight, Treasure?”

Elly froze, tea cup half way to her mouth. “I told you not to call me that,” she said in a deathly quiet voice.

George’s tail began to twitch in irritation. “And I have repeatedly told you it is a term of endearment.”

Elly shook her head, “I don’t believe you. When I came down here to tell you that Aunt Ina had died, you didn’t even know who I was talking about. I have a name, use it!”

George narrowed his eyes at her. Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the sound of his tail knocking over the kettle. Elly, jumped out of the chair and backed away from the rapidly spreading puddle of boiling water. She snatched up the lantern and ran up the stairs. George shouted after her, “What’s the point in learning your name when you are just going to be dead in sixty years?”

She slammed the door at the top of the stairs and thundered up the next flight to her apartment on the second and third floor of the house. She paced agitatedly in her much smaller kitchen before using a match to light her stove and setting about making mac and cheese for supper. She still had some roast chicken that she could heat up to go with it, but right now she needed the comfort carbs.

Running a yarn store wasn’t exactly what she was expecting from her life. The store, or at least the property on which the store was built had been in her family for hundreds of years. It had burnt down, under mysterious circumstances in 1912, but had been rebuilt on the original foundations. In all that time, it had always been a wool store. It was the last house in town and always would be. It was built on the corner of a section of farmland that butted up against the town line.

The farm was currently being leased out as pasture. The tenants didn’t actually pay rent. They kept sheep and tended Elly’s flock with their own. The sheep supplied some of the wool for the store, but mostly they kept George fed. No one knew that though. Officially the area was just prone to sheep thieves.

Elly’s family did well. Their crops flourished. Their businesses succeeded. And every generation, one woman in the family would take over the yarn shop.

It was just bad luck that she had been the oldest unmarried girl in the family when Ina had died. It wasn’t even like she was single at the time. She had tried really hard to talk Jeremy into a quickie wedding when Ina got sick, but it hadn’t worked.

Then Ina was gone and her choices were either dump him or wait for the family curse to get rid of him some other way. She walked away from her job, her boyfriend and being one semester away from getting her Masters in Library and Information Sciences.

Her mother had told her it wasn’t that bad. Maybe she could sell off the yarn and turn the shop into a bookstore.

Ha!

Mom had married into the family. She didn’t know what was in the basement. Now Elly was trapped in this house without so much as a dog for company. 

She turned off the stove and dumped out her pot of boiling water. Who knew when the power would be back on. There was ice cream in the fridge that needed eating up.


	2. Chapter 2

“You are getting fat faster than your kind usually does,” George observed.

Elly gritted her teeth. “Maybe if I got to go out and exercise more it would be less of an issue.”

George rolled his shoulders and shook like a dog shedding water. “Of course you can leave! You can go anywhere you want, as long as you are back on the property by sundown.”

Elly shivered. “You ate my cat.”

“I don’t know what happened to your cat,” George protested. “Besides, it’s not like we have mice, what do you need a cat for?”

“Company?”

That made him snarl, “You are supposed to be here as MY company.”

Elly took a step back. George fought to get himself under control. “You just need time to get used to me, treasure, I’m sure we can-”

Elly turned and headed back to the stairs.

“Wait!” George commanded. 

Elly paused on the bottom stair and waited, but she didn’t turn to look at him.

There was an award silence for a moment, then George blew out a stream of air through his nostrils. “You are right.”

She looked over her shoulder at him.

“I don’t remember your name.”

She turned to look at him, “I’m Elly.”

George nodded awkwardly. “You are going to need to remind me of that.” He paused for a moment then added, “Elly.”

“I’m the only person you talk to, George. Try harder.” With that, she headed upstairs to get ready for the day.

Ben was already in the kitchen, laminating puff pastry. “Soups today will be chicken and dumplings for the non vegetarians and french lentil as the vegan option.”

“Sounds good, Ben.”

“You ok, Boss?”

Elly smiled weakly at him, “I’m just a little tired.”

Ben grinned, “The storm kept you up too, huh?”

“Something like that.” Elly mumbled. “Now are you going to teach me to run the coffee maker or what?”

“What!” he announced triumphantly. “Go sit down, I’ll bring you a cappuccino.”

They had french toast and coffee together. Ben always made her breakfast, and technically lunch. It was just that they staggered their lunch breaks to cover for each other. He had given up on asking her out when she kept putting him off.

How do you explain to a guy that you can’t be out after dark and that he can’t stay over because the monster in the basement might eat him? Hell, she couldn’t even become that crazy isolated cat lady. George hadn’t ever admitted it, but for how guilty he had looked that first morning when she asked if he had seen Mittens, she was sure he was involved in the disappearance. She had put up signs anyway. No one had called.

“Elly?”

She blinked at looked up. “Sorry? You were asking me something.”

“I was,” he agreed frowning slightly at her. “But now I’m wondering if you just need the day off.”

She shook her head, “I don’t have anyone to cover for me.”

Ben leaned back in his chair. “Well, I can run the register and I’m pretty sure the Wednesday morning group could pretty much take care of themselves. You could always ask to see if any of them want a job as your emergency back up.”

Elly looked down at her plate, “I’m not exactly raking in the big bucks here, Ben. Honestly, after expenses, my take home is less than yours. The only reason I’m not folding is the free rent.”

“Shit,” Ben whispered under his breath. “I mean, I knew it was slow but…”

Elly just shrugged. “You bring in more customers than the yarn does these days.”

There was a long moment of awkward silence. “You know if we go out to dinner, I’ll pay, right?”

Elly’s head snapped up and she looked into a pair of worried brown eyes. She laughed, even if it was a bit on the bitter side. “Funny thing about that. There is a long standing clause in the title. I have to be on the property every day from dusk to dawn. I can’t go out to dinner with you without losing the business.”

“That doesn’t sound real, Elly,” Ben said softly.

Elly pursed her lips, “Do you have anything in the oven that will burn in the next, oh, say, ten minutes.”

Ben glanced at the clock, “three minutes on the cookies, then I’m all yours.”

Once the cookies were out cooling on the racks, Elly lead Ben up to the attic. “I hate it up here,” she explained. “It just feels creepy.”

Ben watched the light bulb flicker, “Bad wiring?”

Elly shook her head. “I insisted the place be rewired before I moved in. There was a fire that destroyed most of the property a hundred years ago. The rest was structurally unsound and had to be demolished. Somehow this survived,” she pointed at huge bronze plaque

Ben read for a moment. “Wait. The king bestowed this land upon your family in 1595. There wasn’t even a town here in 1595.”

Elly nodded sadly. “Look, it’s complicated, but-”

“Oh, come on!” Ben protested. “No one is going to take the farm if you go out for drinks with me!”

Elly looked at the floor and shivered. “The last time the owner of the house was out after dark, a fire burned down most of the house, and a good chunk of the town. People died.” She wanted to say more but she was aware this was sounding crazing all ready, so she turned and climbed down the ladder instead.

“You really believe that?” Ben asked from above her. Then he stumbled awkwardly and mostly fell out of the attic, barely catching himself on the ladder. He looked back up. “That was weird. It felt like something pushed me.”

“Come down!” Elly hissed.

“I have to go turn off the light,” Ben protested.

“Come down! You go bake; I’ll get the light!” she insisted.

The light turned itself off with a click.

“That was weird,” Ben commented. “Is it on a timer or something?”

“Just go, I’ll take care of it.”

Ben frowned at her. “Just think about taking a day off. Even if you have to be here after dark, you can at least go out and see a matinee. Get some fresh air. Something.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Ben watched her for a moment then turned and left. Elly went back up the ladder. She noticed the switch was firmly pointed down and therefore off. “I have enough issues to deal with. If you want me to be here, you leave him alone.” Then she stepped down to the second floor and pushed up the ladder and went back downstairs to have another coffee and set about her day.

\----

“Come here.”

“I don’t think so. I’m fine over here.”

George rolled his eyes then he heaved himself to his feet, “I can come to you, but you are much more nimble than I am.”

Elly grabbed tightly on the hand rail, “Sit down. I don’t want you close to me!”

George froze, “I want to see your face. Hold the lantern up then.”

“Why do you care what I look like?” Elly sulked but she did as she was told.

“The boy thinks you are unwell.”

“And?”

“I do not want you to be unwell,” George said patiently.

Elly snorted. “Why does it matter? I can’t leave.”

“Neither can I,” George growled. “That is the arrangement. I do not leave and hunt you. You do not leave and abandon me. You promise to keep me fed and I promise to keep you wealthy. I am holding up my end of the deal, treas-  _ Elly- _ ” he stressed her name, “you aren’t exactly -”

“I am  _ HERE! _ ” Elly snapped. “I gave up my life and my love to be here. I did that. I am here. I don’t have to be happy about it.”

George fell silent and sagged.

Elly watched him looking for the trick.

“If the boy makes you happy, he can stay. I just don’t want you coming home smelling like him.”

“What?”

“Don’t fuck him,” George quailified. 

Elly blinked, “You don’t actually think I’m a virgin, do you?”

George made a sound of disgust. “Go. I am done talking to you now.” He huffed out a stream of steam and turned his back on her. Elly fled.

\----

It was sometime after midnight when Elly sat bolt upright out of a dead sleep. She had forgotten to feed George. She had been angry about not being able to take the day off and then he reminded her she was trapped. She had been dismissed before she had organized his dinner. In theory, he would be ok if he didn’t eat for a few days.

But.

Mittens.

Shit.

She hauled herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs to the shop, then down more stairs to the basement.

The kettle and her cup and saucer was sitting on the walnut table next to the chair. The room was dark, no electricity down here. How would she ever get an electrician in? Tonight though, there was no faint glow coming from George. She held the lantern up over her head, but the darkness just sucked the light away.

No dragon.

“George?” Her voice echoed. The basement shouldn’t be big enough for that. Then she realized that if he was asleep, maybe waking him wasn’t the best idea. She crept carefully forward. Nothing. She looked over her shoulder and was relieved she could still see the light coming from the doorway at the top of the stairs. She took a few more steps and found a leather couch with deep button tucks that seemed to match the chair. Holding the lamp up over her head she could see a large stone arch way further ahead. Through it there was only darkness. Elly swallowed and tried to listen for the sound of George’s breathing.

Then her nerve broke and she sprinted for the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Of course he didn’t think she was a virgin! Humans usually get married before they finished growing. Well, they used to anyway. George wasn’t good at guessing humans ages. They were small for a short time, then they were full sized for a longer time, then they were dead forever.

But this one, seemed like she was old enough to have married, had a couple of children and still had time to lose her family in some plague or another. Humans were always dying like that. Plagues, famines, it was more trouble than it was worth keeping them alive. Most of the time.

He had honestly thought of them as handy snacks for the longest time.

Or pets.

Well, not exactly  _ pets _ .

Then black powder had turned up and suddenly the world was a lot more complicated.

When the arrangement had first been put into place, George had an entire monastery of nuns to attend to him. 

That had been good times.

Until he realized the women didn’t want to be there.

Then, suddenly, it wasn’t any fun at all.

He might not ever have found out, except that he had met a woman who did want to be there.

His tail lashed in anger. Centuries of women, being sent to him. Then Silene came and taught him how to speak human language. She had loved him. And when she had died, he had been beside himself with grief.

Then her niece had come. Or great niece or something. The woman had come and they had lived together. They had grown fond of each other. Then she was old and he was taking care of her. One day she was gone. He had returned her body to her family, as requested. He had left with a cousin of some sort.

Eventually, he had surrendered part of his hoard and purchased the land. That was when things had become official with this particular family. He always had a companion. Some were better than others. 

His last treasure - what was her name? - had been more interested in running some sort of shop over his head than in actually keeping him company. He didn’t approve but he had allowed it. Now this last one… He didn’t know what to make of her. She was moody. Some days she would come down here and read to him for hours. Other days she would sulk or rage against him. She was right though. He should try to remember her name.

Ellen? Helen? Something. Damn it.

Elly!

Maybe?

George sighed. Whatever her name was, she kept accusing him of eating her cat. That was ridiculous. He wasn’t interested in anything smaller than a sheep. She was at more risk from him than some stupid cat. He didn’t like cats. They tended to spit at him.

Maybe if her got her a new one, she would get over that? How hard would it be to find a cat? They used to be like vermin around here. Maybe he should let her keep the boy as a pet. It wouldn’t be the first time he had allowed that. Usually he waited until he knew the woman first.

He needed a few things for his lair. Humans were pathetic and fragile. They had almost no night vision and certainly couldn’t see colour in the dark. They were entirely too sensitive to cold. He had a cast iron wood stove around here somewhere. It would need to be cleaned, but he generally found that carefully heating it until it was glowing white generally did the trick. It had worked on the wrought iron bedstead … sort of. The spring base for the mattress had melted.

He carefully dismantled it and dragged it down his tunnel and away from the house. No hot fires under the structure. He had learned his lesson last time. Ann hadn’t let him live that down.

He missed Ann. The one who had come to replace her hadn’t been that friendly. He had been hoping this one would be better. 

Elsie?

His treasure. He had bought her with gold before she was even born. Priceless. His.

His…. Evvie? Did it even start with an E?

She was right. He was going to have to try harder.

When he got back to his lair, he could smell her. She had been here recently. She had been afraid. Was something wrong, or was this the usual humans always stank of fear?

Not her, though. Not Effie. She was just angry all the time. Or at least all the time she was with him. He should really do something about that.

He slithered up the steps and tried the door knob. He was pleasantly surprised to find it unlocked. It was easy to follow her scent trail through the shop, past the pile of raw fleeces in the corner that smelled slightly of pasture and slightly like lunch. The stairs up were wider than the ones to the basement. There was a whole house up here! He had never been to the second level before. One guest room that smelled like dust. One office was full of boxes that smelled like old books, and the last door to the corner room was her bedroom.

It also wasn’t locked.

He barely had the door open when she announced, “Na dean fochmoid fáinn!”

That made him pause. “I would never!”

“George? Why are you in my bedroom?”

“Why are you cursing in Celt?”

The woman sat up in bed and turned on a small electric light on a little table. Humans liked little tables. George was not overly fond of the fake light she was always using. “I asked you first,” she challenged.

“That is true,” he conceded. “You were in my lair when I was not near the stairs. I was uncertain what you needed there.”

She sagged, “I forgot your dinner. I was going to ask if you needed anything.”

George considered this. She had come to offer him food, then got frightened and ran away. Interesting. “Why were you shouting in Celtic?”

“Gaelic,” she countered. “I don’t speak much, but I found a book of… well… legends and that was something to keep evil spirits away.”

“Do you know what it means?” he asked patiently.

“Um… leave me alone or something?” she suggested tentatively.

George considered that, “Nearly. It doesn’t work on me. You should be careful about using words of power that you don’t understand.”

“Do you need me to find you something to eat?”

He considered this. She was trying to change the subject. “You are not happy here.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” she snarled.

George blinked. “What do you need to be happy?”

If anything she frowned harder. “What do you mean?”

George sighed and squeezed a bit more of himself into her room so he could curl around himself. “We are both going to be here for the rest of our lives. If I can help make you happier, then maybe…” he trailed off. She was watching him carefully, trying to puzzle out his expression. Good luck with that, he thought, you are only good at reading monkey faces. “You need to sleep more, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if I will get to though. Ben will be here in a couple of hours.”

George just kept watching her. “Think about what makes you happy and let me know. Is there any part of that life you gave up that you could get back?”

She shook her head sadly, “I was almost a librarian. I spent a lot of time and money attending university for that. Now I sell fancy ass string.”

George crept forward and put his head on the bed next to her. “Would you be happier selling books instead?” Treasure just stared at him. “I was surprised when you added the bakery. But that has done well. Would people who eat…. Fancy ass bread also buy books?”

She shook her head, “No one buys books anymore.”

Suddenly he understood and it made his eyes light up. “You hoard books.”

“No! I don’t! I mean, I collect a few, but that isn’t the same as hoarding.”

He smirked not believing it for a second. “Sell the wool, use the money to buy books, be happy.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

George awkwardly shook his head, being careful not to bump her. “You are selling the wool to buy more wool to sell. Sell the wool and buy books to sell.”

The treasure snorted, “My mom said that. I’ll think about it.” After a moment she added, “George? I don’t like that you came into my room.”

He nodded, but made no move to leave. He waited until she shifted uncomfortably and was about to speak before he replied, “You are not comfortable in my lair. You are here to keep me company. So, I came to your lair to join you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t.”

He shrugged, though his shoulders didn’t really work like that. “I get lonely. You were right. You are the only person I talk to.”

She swallowed, “We will have to figure something out.”

George grinned. He stopped when she looked nervously at his teeth. Then he backed out of the room. There wasn’t enough space on the landing to turn around without bumping into something. He figured it out, but it wasn’t graceful.

He was most of the way back to his lair when he realized he hadn’t asked her name. He would just have to listen carefully through the floorboards and pick it up when someone else said it.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben had been surprised when Ina had contacted him to take over the bakery. He had never even heard of the yarn shop. He was in culinary school three towns over when she contacted the program head and had been given his name. She had been running a small baked goods counter out of her back room, but was getting too old to continue. They had negotiated a tentative deal over the phone.

They had renegotiated when he saw the kitchen. He was surprised she hadn’t been shut down by the health inspector years ago. Five years of free rent. He replaced the appliances, she paid for the renovation. He owned the bakery.

She had died on the third year of the agreement. He was still making payments on the appliances. He was sure he was fucked.

Then Elly turned up. She had been really angry about the whole thing. Ben just assumed that she had been close to Ina and was upset about the death in the family. She wasn’t overly impressed with the yarn shop. Ben had to teach her how to run the inventory system and the register. It wasn’t hard. He had helped Ina set up the computer system when he arrived.

Elly didn’t knit. She had needed the regulars to give her a crash course on the yarn, spinning and weaving. The company reps had all come out to redo their pitches as she tried to decide what to carry. She wasn’t stupid. She had them present their pitches in front of the Tuesday morning group. Cloe, Lashandra and Posy were the most opinionated grannies in town. Ben was pretty sure they had helped her negotiated better prices than what Ina was getting.

In the short term at least. While she decided if they were going to stay open or not.

That last bit had him worried. He started putting together a business plan to see if he could lease the ground floor and open a full restaurant if she closed up the yarn shop. It was a huge gamble, but he thought he could make it work.

Elly was sweet and a nice person to deal with. She was just not happy here. That made a lot more sense when she showed him the plaque in the attic. At first he thought she was a little nuts. Then he realized, it didn’t even matter if she believed it. Keeping a business that had been in the family for hundreds of years going was a whole lot of pressure to put on someone. Especially when she clearly didn’t want it. 

Even setting aside all business considerations, Ben found that he didn’t want her to go. He really did enjoy spending time with her. She has a wicked sense of humour and was a fan of obscure history. She had recommended a couple of books in passing. Ben had ordered one of them and only make it about 50 pages in before he did a spit take at a joke. After he cleaned up the mess he wondered about that. He wouldn’t have expected it from a wannabe librarian.

The day after she had shown him the huge plaque in the attic, she wasn’t there when he used his key to let himself in at six AM. He would bake until nine when the shop opened, then serve food until two, then keep selling baking and coffee as he cleaned up and shut down. It made for ten hour days, but he wasn’t afraid of hard work and he had debts to pay off.

He often wished he had asked Ina to put an outside door into the cafe so he could serve breakfast before the shop opened. He didn’t think Elly would be receptive to that given what she had said about the shops finances. It would make it easier for him to open for breakfast before the shop did.

She was late coming down to have breakfast with him.

Ben put it off as long as he could, then ate by himself. She still wasn’t down by the time he had finished. That put him in an awkward spot. Should he go check on her? She was technically his landlord, but she had always behaved as though he was a business partner. He hadn’t bothered correcting her. 

He chickened out in the end and waited. She did eventually come thundering down the stairs at 8:30. She looked wildly around before seeing him and sagging with relief.

“Um? Elly? I hate to be like this boss, but we are due to open in half an hour and you are still in your jammies.”

She stared at him in confusion for a moment then turned and headed back upstairs.

“I’ll make you coffee and toast!” he shouted up after her.

She really needed some time off. Except that if she shut down for a week off, he would also be shut down. He didn’t really like that so much. Not that he could do with a few days off as well. Elly looked like she was running herself into the ground. He didn’t remember Ina ever being that frazzled.

Mind you, maybe Elly was paying for Ina being more lacks. 

\----

They were closed on Sunday and Monday, so he had gone to the local library to try to get information on the shop. It was easy enough to find a digital copy of the town’s newspaper reporting on the fire. No one was sure where it had started, but she was right, eight people had died. The current occupant of the house, the woman’s groundskeeper, and the family living next door.

Ben was pretty sure the groundskeeper was sleeping over from the things the article carefully wasn’t saying.

He found the article about the house being rebuilt, but he couldn’t find any information on how old the original structure had been before the fire. 

The librarian, Ananka, hadn’t been with the town for very long. She was tall and built like a brick shit house, with the classic librarian bun, cat’s eye glasses and the kind of face that could be any age from forty to a well maintained sixty. Her whole presence was intimidating, until she smiled and directed Ben to town hall to looking up the building permits and ownership records. That was where he found out that the shop was outside the town limits. He was sent to the local church. There weren’t any baptism records for anyone living in the house, only death records. 

When he mentioned the date on the plaque, the church secretary, Mary, pointed at the cornerstone on the church. “You must be mistaken. That was a hundred years before the church was built. The town was here before the church, obviously, but the archives say there were only twenty families here at the time.”

“Is it possible the house was owned by one of the founding families?”

“That is a good point! We had all the archives digitized a while back, if you would like to make an appointment, we can set you up to go through them,” she offered.

Ben looked at the clock. The office was closing soon. The librarian was already intrigued by the lack of information in the local history office. He was forced to wonder if it really mattered. He decided to change tactics, “You said you don’t have birth records for Ina. Is there a way to find out when she moved to the area?”

Agnes considered this. “The Howard family has been renting the pasture land from the house for generations. Ian is a bit of a history buff, he might have some information.”

Ben nodded and made a note to talk to Hanna Howard the next time she came in for buns.


	5. Chapter 5

“You slept in today, tre- Elly,” George observed. “The boy was quite worried.”

“Ben? Nah. He was fine.”

George snorted, “He does not approach the stairs that often when you are on time.”

Elly froze. “What would you have done if he had gone up them?”

George turned to peer at her out of the darkness, his eyes glowing faintly. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence. “There is a chesterfield down here that matches the chair you are sitting upon.”

“Wait, who even calls it a chesterfield anymore?”

George bristled, “I do,” he said quietly. “What do you call it?”

“A sofa.”

“If you understand the word, why comment on my choice of it?”

“Sorry,” Elly said softly.

George settled slightly back onto the floor. “I would like you to sleep on it tonight.”

Elly blinked. “Down here? You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I have cleaned the fireplace. I will allow you to bring your horrible lights,” he conceded graciously.

“You are serious!” she was shocked.

“Of course I am. You have not invited me into your space, so I am respecting that and requesting you spend the night in mine.”

Elly considered this. It was dark. It wasn’t damp. It certainly wasn’t cold and George could easily adjust the temperature if she needed it. Hell, he was acting as the furnace after all. “Why did you need to clean the fireplace? I mean, you are the fireplace.”

“It helps with ventilation and you can use it for cooking, if needed.”

Elly wondered what he thought she would be cooking overnight in her sleep. “I don’t understand why you are asking me that.”

George gave a frustrated and slightly steamy sigh. “I understand that you tend the shop during the day. I understand that you do the shopping and go out for chores on the days the shop is closed. Nonetheless the end result is that I receive only a minimal amount of your time. You aren’t holding up your end of the bargain,  _ treasure _ .”

“I am!” Elly protested. “I live here and take care of the place and I’m never out after dark!”

“That isn’t the bargain, Elly. The arrangement has you here to keep me company. The shop is just supposed to be a hobby for you.”

“A hobby? No. A hobby is something you enjoy. I’m only running the shop because I like eating food and sleeping indoors.”

George’s brow wrinkled. “You have money, you don’t need to work.”

“What reality are you living in George?”

“The one where there is a trust set up for whoever is living here,” he explained impatiently. “All you have to do is present with a copy of your birth certificate and sign the paperwork.”

Elly blinked. George sighed again, noticeably raising the humidity in the room. “If you dial the telephone for me, we can call the lawyers in the morning. It has been awhile since I have spoken to Mr Biddu. It is probably well past time.”

She swallowed, “Maybe it has been embezzled or something.”

George’s teeth glittered in the light of the lamp. “Oh, I doubt it. Your law firm is in on the secret. I have spent a lot of effort on guarding my treasure. And whether you like it or not, that includes you, Elly.”

“This is a lot to take in,” she murmured. “Why do you want me to sleep with you?”

There was a faint choking noise before George replied. “You are here to keep me company. I was giving you a chance to settle after moving to a new place. It has been months since you arrived. It is past time.”

Elly considered this. “I don’t want to sleep down here, George. It’s too dark and scary.”

He didn’t reply, but just kept watching her.

“Um… If you sleep in my room, do I have to worry about a fire?”

“No,” was the cold reply.

“Do I have to worry about getting you down the stairs before Ben sees you?”

She could swear he smirked at that. “No,” he replied. “I can be discreet if you insist.”

Elly pursed her lips and looked at the stairs. “All right. If we push the bed against the wall, there should be room for you on the floor.”

George chuckled, “It sounds like you need a bigger bed.”

“I like my bed!” she protested.

George let that one slide. Apparently he wasn’t going to push his luck yet. He followed her up the stairs, close enough that she could feel his breath on the small of her back. She could hear his claws clicking on the floor as they went.

“I don’t have my space set up for … someone as large as you. Just … please be careful not to break anything.”

“I will be very careful with your treasures, Elly.”

Elly fought not to laugh. There were some very nice antiques that had come with the house, but none of it was hers. She had brought a lot of books, a lot of shelves and a desk that was set up to be ergonomic for her. It was all still in boxes in the room she wanted as an office. She had hit the ground running here and hadn’t had a chance to even unpack her things.

Looking at him in this space she was amazed he hadn’t smashed the furniture on his way to her room. She gave the couch a shove to make a little more room for him.

“May I?”

She looked at him watching her. What the hell, it wasn’t her couch. “Sure.”

George muscled it aside, widening the space behind it. Then he crept back and moved the chairs and coffee table to keep the grouping the same. “I liked the way Ann had the furniture arranged better.”

Elly gritted her teeth. She should really just let it go, as long has he remembered her name, that was the important thing. But still, “Her name was Ina. And I don’t know how she had the furniture before, but I haven’t moved any of it since I got here.”

He went very still at that. There was a long pause, when he spoke he almost sounded like he could cry. It was the first emotion other than irritation Elly had seen out of him. “Ann was before her. She was my friend.”

Elly didn’t know what to say to that, then the enormity of it hit her. Ina had been here for the last fifty years. George hadn’t known her name. So either Ina hadn’t insisted he learn or that was a really long time to be alone.

Shit.

No wonder he was so insistent on spending time with her. How did the idea of solitary confinement even apply to George? Reptiles made shitty pets because they were solitary creatures as compared to dogs, which lived in packs or cats which at least lived in colonies. But was George even a reptile? He was definitely warm blooded. She couldn’t get her head around the temperature thing. Or… any of it really. If magic was just science people didn’t understand yet, then George sure as shit was a magical creature.

He was watching her.

Elly blinked. “Um… I guess that’s why the doors are all so wide.” George inclined his head, giving her an off centre nod of agreement. “I’m not attached to the furniture layout. We can rearrange it on the weekend if you want.”

“Thank you tr - Elly.”

“Did you call Ina treasure too?”

George narrowed his eyes for a moment before he closed them entirely.

Elly hesitated before asking, “Did you actually talk to her at all?”

“In the beginning, as much as I talk to you now. I did not demand more of her time and over the years that dwindled to her simply bringing me food, then leaving before I had eaten it.”

“That sounds lonely.”

George’s eyes snapped open and he glared at her.

Elly took an involuntary step back. “Um!” she blurted out trying to diffuse the situation. “We should move the bed over against one of the walls in the room.”

She opened the french doors to her room. All the doors in the apartment where french doors, but they were all a weird size. Each door was only slightly larger than two feet wide, so that when you opened the both the doorway was unusually wide but opening only one was uncomfortably small. George would have no problems fitting through a wheelchair accessible door and could probably squeeze though a standard door, but watching him ease through the double doors it was clear that this space had been designed to fit him.

“You are staring, treasure.”

Elly opened her mouth to correct him on her name, then snapped it shut when she realized he was being rude to point out her rudeness. If you would have asked her a year ago to pick a word to describe dragons, snarky wouldn’t have made her top twenty. Big, reptilian, and snarky. George’s back legs were short like an alligator's. They weren’t any longer than his arms, which were uncomfortably human looking. She was sure if he stood up he would be seven feet tall. His face was almost human, maybe a little longer in the snout. She was sure his skull had to be closer to that of a gorilla than to any reptile she could think of.

His lips curled back to show sharp, inhuman teeth. “If you are going to stare at me, just tell me to go.”

“I haven’t ever really looked at you,” Elly admitted. “I always made a point of not staring.”

“You can stop now,” he snarled. 

Elly flinched, then turned and scooped up her sleep shorts. “I’ll go brush my teeth. You will do a better job of rearranging the furniture than I could anyway.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there is a power outage while Elly is away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is something exciting happening for my subscribers. It's a $1 option, so under the AO3 terms of service, I can't link to it here. (It's original work, not fanfic).
> 
> [ You can read about it on my Tumblr page here ](https://pixie-unger.tumblr.com/post/629242587203731456/something-different)
> 
> I like to think I have some interesting things on either of my tumblr pages, but if you subscribe on AO3, you won't miss the best parts - the stories.

She did not want him here. George knew he should respect that, but was too much of a bastard to do it. She needed to get used to the idea of him being around and that wasn’t going to happen while he was hiding in the basement. He was feeling a bit guilty about how she would just about be asleep, then jerk herself awake to glare at him.

He hated that she didn’t trust him enough to be able to sleep around him.

It would take a while to prove to her that she could. He understood that, having a prey species move in with their predator was inherently stressful. But it had been centuries since he ate anyone! Well … His teeth were scary but no threat to her.

The next time she jerked awake, he snorted. “Go to sleep Elly!”

“I can feel you watching me. It’s creepy.”

“Hmm.”

“What do you mean, ‘hmm’?” she demanded.

George rolled from laying on his belly to laying on his side. “I don’t want to be creepy. But I do want to be around you. To get you used to being around me. How do you suggest we accomplish that?”

Elly fell silent and just watched him watching her for a moment. “I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “It’s not like we can go out to dinner together.”

George nodded. “You could close the shop for the day and we could just talk.”

Elly shook her head. “I can’t. I need the money. Ben needs the -”

“You really don’t,” George grumbled.

Elly sighed and flopped on her back to stare up at the plaster medallion on the ceiling. “If you go downstairs so I can sleep now, then tomorrow we could have dinner and a movie as soon as the shop closes,” she suggested.

George wasn’t happy with that, “Tomorrow you will conveniently forget your promise.”

Elly frowned. She couldn’t really argue with that when she had forgotten to bring him food the other night. “I won’t,” she said softly.

George nodded slowly, then stood to leave. He carefully turned to the doors instead of backing out. He had the room, he might as well use it.

“Did Ina forget her promises?” Elly whispered.

“Yes,” George replied bluntly, not turning to look at her.

“Could you sleep facing the door, instead of staring at me?”

George chuckled, “Would that make any difference? I would still be in your room.”

Elly grumbled something and rolled over.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Yes. Psychologically it would be better not having you stare at me.”

“Hmm ..” George repeated. Then he eased himself back to the floor. “Better, Treasure?” 

He meant it to be sarcasm. So he was surprised when she replied, “Yes, thank you.”

“Go to sleep, Elly.”

“Good night George.”

He was even more surprised when her breathing went slow and even a few moments later. He rolled over to see her face slack, her arms clutching a pillow tightly to her chest. She looked younger now that the tension had drained from her body. Awake Elly was a tiny bundle of barely contained rage. Asleep, she looked so fragile. Vulnerable. Delicate.

She should not have to scrabble so hard to earn her meals. It was his job to provide that. He knew for certain no one had been stealing from him. He would know. He was always aware of his hoard whether he could see it or not. He could feel her when she was awake. Less so when she slept, which is why watching her was nice.

Among other things.

\----

When Ben had volunteered to be in charge of the shop for a day he wasn’t expecting any trouble. Elly was off seeing the lawyers about wrapping up whatever was still unresolved with her aunt’s estate. That was fine. But the Tuesday morning knitting ladies were trying to help, in the most unhelpful way possible.

Bringing their own cups to the bussing station, that was helpful. Trying to run the coffee maker themselves while Ben was running the register was not. Still, somehow they made it to an hour before anything blew up, and even then he was pretty sure it was just a fuse. The power went out when Posy moved the magnifying light from the corner where Ina had always kept it to across the room where it apparently overloaded the circuit.

Ben was happy to have an excuse to send them all home by then. The problem was, he still had to find the fuse box and hope that Elly had some replacements before he could clean up and go home for the day. Failing that, he hoped they were still stocked at the local hardware store. For a building this age, the wiring really was in pretty good shape.

He used the light on his phone and watched his head on the stairs on the way down. Like a kid trying to light up the night sky with a flashlight, the darkness seemed to suck at the light without actually showing him much beyond two steps ahead of him.

“What are you doing?”

Ben jumped and managed to fall down the last two or three steps onto the cobbled floor of the cellar. The voice wasn’t threatening, it was merely amused and now it was chuckling at him.

“Who’s there?!” he demanded pushing himself up and fumbling for where his phone had skittered away from him when he landed.

“I asked you first,” came the mild reply.

Ben groaned, “That sounds like something Elly would say.”

Now the voice was absolutely laughing at him. Ben shone his light around the room, but all he saw was a big wingback chair facing away from him.

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for the fuse box. Who are you and what are you doing down here?” Ben thought for a moment, then added, “And do you know where the fuse box is? I can’t see anything in this gloom.”

“The breaker panel is in the kitchen on the second floor. Elly insisted it be upgraded before she moved in. There is no electricity down here at all.”

There was something odd about the way the voice said electricity, making each syllable stilted, sharp and awkward, as though whoever was speaking was unused to the word. “You never said who you are and why you are here,” Ben pointed out.

The voice chuckled. “That is true; I did not. You may call me George and I live here.”

Ben was extremely skeptical, “In Elly’s basement? In the dark with no electricity?”

George hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “This is my house. It would be more correct to say Elly lives in my attic. I am not afraid of the dark.”

Ben bristled a little at that, still trying to find the source of the voice with his light. “I’m not afraid of the dark either, but that is not the same as wanting to live in a windowless basement.”

There was a sharp intake of breath, followed by an angry silence. “I do not want to live in the basement. I do so as a courtesy to others.”

Frowning, Ben asked, “What? Are you like the elephant man or something?”

“What is the elephant man?” George asked politely.

“You just hang out down here? All alone in the dark?”

Again too long of a pause. Then a quiet, “Yes.” About the time that Ben was completely uncomfortable, George added, “Elly comes to visit me sometimes. She is not happy here but I am happy for the company.”

“Shit! Sorry! Um! Look, I’m going to try to figure out some more light then I can bring down some of the cookies I just finished if you want to talk about it.”

There was a low chuckle, “I thought it was the bartenders that were supposed to listen sympathetically, not the bakers.”

“Yeah, well, I tended bar in school if that helps.”

“I… have some scotch around here somewhere if that helps.”


	7. Chapter 7

Elly was barely in the door when the pizza arrived. “You have the wrong house,” she said politely but firmly.

The delivery guy looked at his clipboard. “Nope. Right address, says Ben ordered them. They are already paid for so it isn’t a prank call.”

“Oh,” she said lamely. “Ben. Yeah. This is the right place. I just wasn’t expecting him to be here this late.” She fumbled in her purse for a tip and staggered inside under the weight of five extra large. When she tried to hit the light switch with her elbow, nothing happened. Then she noticed the ott-light had moved. She groaned. How many times did she need to tell Posy not to do that? 

The pizza was set on the counter as she stomped up the stairs to flip the breaker. Once she hung up her coat, she wrenched off her heels and threw them into the hall closet with a fury that might have been surprising if she hadn’t spent the day feeling like an idiot child.

She found her sheep slippers, grabbed a beer out of her fridge and pounded down the stairs again. 

“Ben?” she called.

There was no answer. 

She walked around the shop, turning off the lights. The bakery was still a mess, which was just not like him.

The door to the basement was open.

Oh god!

“BEN?!” she yelled frantically, as she ran to the steps.

“Careful, treasure, you don’t want to slip.”

“Oh! Hi, Elly! I ordered pizza.”

Elly stared between the two of them in the gloom of a battery powered trouble light. Ben in the chair, George curled up on the floor in front of him.

And a mostly empty bottle of scotch on the table.

“Are you drunk?”

“Probably,” Ben said amicably. “Did you know you have a dragon in your cellar?”

Elly sat down heavily on the step. It took her a few minutes to even try to get her brain working again. In the meantime, Ben asked, “Any sign of the pizza? George says he’s never had taco pizza or buffalo wings.”

“Yeah,” she said faintly. “It’s upstairs.”

“I’ll get it!” Ben stood up, then he suddenly sat back down. “I think I need a minute.”

“You need food,” George corrected. “You wait here, I’ll help Elly get whatever it was that you ordered.”

“You can’t -” she stopped and pinched the bridge of her nose. “OK. this is ridiculous. I’ll go close the curtains, then we call all eat in the bakery.”

She grumbled to herself as she pushed the tables against the wall and closed the blinds. She jumped when she turned to find Ben standing way too close to her and George peering at her from the stairs. Ignoring George for a moment, she looked at Ben. “Are you OK?”

He gave her a glassy look, “I’m -” he started to say, then stopped for a moment, “ I’m not entirely sure this is real.”

“That’s up to you,” George rumbled coming into the dining room. “Tomorrow you will wake up with a hangover and we can all just pretend this is a bad dream, if you want. For now, however, I smell dinner and I know that buffaloes don’t have wings.”

“They are chicken,” Elly murmured as she went to get the food.

“I like it when people bring me cooked chicken. They are too fiddly to eat on my own. Eau de burning feathers is not an appetizing smell.” George got the pizza boxes off the counter and carried them back to the bakery’s dining room. He managed just fine, but it was awkward to look at. His legs looked kind of bandy and short, his feet more hand like, and hs tail seemed to be in the way. He ended up sitting at the table, but on the floor with his tail lashing behind him like a cat.

Ben brought over two tea cups and two water pitchers George graciously accepted one of the jugs and held it like an oversized mug, taking a long drink. Elly was suddenly very aware that she never brought him liquids. Ben was oblivious to that and was pouring her a cup of water. 

“I can make you a pot of decaf if you like.”

Elly waved him away, “I have most of a beer around here somewhere.”

“On the coffee table by the fireplace,” George said, carefully trying to figure out the pizza box.

Elly went to grab it and came back in time to see Geoge popping a wing in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. “We don’t usually eat the bones,” she pointed out.

“Extra calcium,” George shrugged. “These are good. I was expecting them to be more spicy.”

Ben blinked, “I ordered mild, medium, hot and extreme and I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to eat the bones because they could make sharp pieces and-”

“That’s dogs,” Elly interrupted. “I have no idea if it applies to … George.”

George was already daintily taking another wing out of the pizza box with dividers keeping the wings segregated from each other. He crunched that one up too. “Which one is the spicy one?” Ben pointed. “You are staring.”

“Right! Sorry! It’s just … wow. Holy shit. You are … amazing!” He turned to Elly, “You have an actual dragon in your actual dungeon. Do you have any idea how cool that is?”

Elly just snorted as she helped herself to a slice of taco pizza. “This is just weird. I can see using salsa instead of tomato sauce, and almost see queso instead of pizza cheese, but who puts sour cream on a slice?”

“Hey, at least I ordered it without the lettuce,” Ben argued.

“OK, these ones are getting better,” George said, pointing to the extreme wings. “I’m not sharing these.”

Both humans stared at him. It was Ben who finally said, “I can just imagine you on Hot Ones on YouTube.”

“What?” Elly asked, but Ben was enthralled watching George suck the sauce off his fingers. 

George, however, was watching her. “What did the lawyers say?”

Elly glared at her pizza then took a swig of beer. “Any major changes to the business are subject to approval from the trustees. They don’t object in principle as long as I can show I won’t have losses in excess of the monthly stipend.”

Now Ben was looking at her. “You are going to change the business?” he asked with feigned nonchalance that was undermined by his voice breaking part of the way through the sentence. 

Elly shook her head, “I wouldn’t interfere with the bakery, but I don’t know enough about yarn to keep this place afloat.”

“You were learning though,” he pointed out.

George snorted, “She is unhappy though.” He narrowed his eyes at the man. “Why is it your concern?”

“If I close up shop, Ben is out on the street,” Elly pointed out. “This will affect him too.”

“Hmm,” George considered this.

“Try some pizza,” Elly suggested.

“Get Ben a beer,” George suggested.

“Nah, man. I gotta drive home.” Then he frowned. “I gotta clean the kitchen.”

“I will allow you to sleep on Elly’s couch on the second floor,” George replied magnanimously. Elly rolled her eyes. Ben grinned at his plate and took a slice of the all meat pie. 

“I like this place, they have good sauce and they have a partially good sourdough crust.” He took a huge bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, “and I’m sure they make their own sauce.”

“You already mentioned the sauce,” Elly pointed out.

“It was a very good bottle of scotch,” George explained. “The boy needed it.”

Elly sighed. “Yeah, you can sleep in the guest room,” she agreed. “I’ll change the sheets and help you clean the kitchen tomorrow morning.”

Ben was looking thoughtful. “I know you don’t order this much food all the time. Is that why all the cats are going missing?”

“Yes!” Elly snapped.

“No!” George just looked hurt. “I don’t eat cats!”

Ben chortled, “Methinks the lady does protest too-” but before he could finish the quote, George leaned across the table and snapped his teeth uncomfortably close to Ben’s face.

“You do not come into my house and disrespect me like that!”

Both humans froze.

George blinked and leaned back away from them. He turned and glared at the door to the stairs. “I have changed my mind, treasure, I do not like this friend of yours.”

“I’ll -” Elly squeaked then stopped and tried again. “I’ll just take him home then. To his home, I mean.”

George looked pointedly at the window, “You can not go and be back before dark. Take him upstairs, put him to bed and if he remembers this in the morning, I will expect an apology.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben said immediately. He was extremely contrite. “You are right. That was rude.”

George narrowed his eyes at him. “Go,” he managed to hiss the word despite the lack of sibilants. As he watched them scurry up the stairs like frightened mice, he helped himself to another wing. As he was crunching he could hear Elly speaking upstairs.

“That isn’t even how that quote goes. It’s ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks’ -”

“Really? That’s the part of this you have a problem with?”

“No. I’m just... “ she sighed. “Look. You need to think less drinking buddy and more tetchy grandfather.”

George managed to frown even harder. Tetchy? Really? The grandfather, well, it was completely incorrect but he could see how she got there. But tetchy? Ugh. He finished the wings and opened one of the pizza boxes at random. Bread, tomato sauce, meat, mushrooms, bland white cheese, not ideal, but oddly satisfying.

The reality of the situation caught up to him. He groaned. He should have made the boy sleep on the chesterfield in the basement. Instead, he was up there with Elly and George was down here, alone. That certainly wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

Still, it would be dark soon. Time to go for a night out.


	8. Chapter 8

Ben was snoring slightly in the other bedroom. He hadn’t let Elly even change the slightly musty sheets, just taken the offered water and aspirin before he climbed in and passed out. Elly was curled up in bed with an 1890’s treatise about the drafting of patterns for ladies undergarments. It was weird and obscure and highly recommended by a history blog she followed. Bernie was right, it was much more interesting than you would expect.

She heard George moving around down there. The door to the stairs opened and closed then the house went still and quiet. Elly found herself staring at the opposite wall and straining her ears to pick up any sounds that were not Ben.

The only other sound in the house was a soft shuffling from the attic.

Elly jumped out of bed and turned the light on in her room. Then the one in the bathroom on too. She pulled out her phone and put on an audio book then hunkered down and pulled the covers up to her chin. She tried to concentrate on the idea of crocheting an afgan or some fool thing the ladies were always after her to try. Something to take her mind off of it.

She wasn’t sure that would actually help.

There was a monster in the basement and the distinct possibility that she would die a fiery death. God only knew what the hell was going on in the attic. It would be nice to be out of the yarn business, but she really wanted to be out of the whole damn house. It wasn’t even like there was anyone she could talk to about this. There wasn’t exactly a ‘there’s a mythical beast in my basement’ facebook group she could join.

Maybe she could at least talk to Ben now. If he remembered in the morning. If he didn’t just run screaming. Not that she could blame him.

In theory, she could just go. Pack up her bag, head out in the morning and be on a flight around the world before he even missed her. But then what? A sister or cousin might be sent in her place. George might also get angry and hurt someone. Elly didn’t really want that on her conscience. Especially after that threat display at Ben. It had worked. She did feel threatened.

The lights flickered. Elly got up and started pacing. Tea! Or warm milk maybe. She had a good recipe for warm milk that was very nearly a drinkable pudding. And it would give her something to fuss over while she tried to relax. The problem with knowing about George was that it made it really hard to tell yourself that ghosts aren't real and you had just dreamed the shadowy figure standing over your bed.

Elly shivered, then whirled to look behind her.

She hadn’t ever seen the thing when she was clearly awake, but she had woken up to see it standing over her bed a few times now. Was Ben safe? Was she? 

Elly turned to look behind her again. The problem was, there was no matter which way she faced, there was always a blind spot behind her. Finally she just accepted that she wouldn’t be sleeping tonight and went downstairs to clean the kitchen. Ben wasn’t going to want to do that with a hangover in the morning.

\----

It was after midnight and Elly had not only cleaned the kitchen, she had dusted the shop and had a hard look at her inventory. If she sold off the looms and spinning wheels, she could start by converting that section to books. Starting with knitting books, so she could sneak up on people. Then add baking and cook books, that would be a natural progression from having the bakery on site. 

She could, possibly, just keep expanding the books and reducing the yarn. Maybe keep the sock yarn. It was the best seller and could eventually fit in the craft section.

“Elly?” She jumped, then turned to see George watching her from the bakery. “I brought you a gift.”

She blinked, “That’s nice. Thank you George.”

“You have to come get her.”

“Whoa! Wait! Her?” Elly asked

George held out his hand. Cradled in his palm was a small black kitten.

“Where did you get a kitten?” Elly demanded, rushing forward to take the sleeping bundle of fur.

“Someone has been killing cats. They got the mom and the rest of the litter. This one was hiding in the dark. Keep her safe. Don’t let her outside.”

Elly hesitated, “When you say killing cats …” she trailed off. George was glaring at the wall like it had personally offended him. In her hands. The kitten yawned and stretched, its tiny razor sharp claws pricking at Elly’s hands. It blinked up and mewed piteously. Elly stared into its eyes. “I’ve never seen a cat with brown eyes before. Gold or amber, sure, but not like this.”

George turned back to look at her, “The mother was black with white feet, the other kittens were black and white. Whoever did this was gone before I got there.”

The kitten started to squirm awkwardly and Elly rushed over to set her on the stack of newspapers she was throwing out. They barely made it. By the time she got things cleaned up, George was gone. Elly sighed and looked down at kitten. “At least you are old enough to poop on your own. OK. Let’s go google how to keep you alive.”

—-

Elly spent the rest of the night learning about kittens. George’s present had tall ears, for a cat, black fur and human like brown eyes. The overall effect was a little creepy. It also made no sense. From what Elly could find, this little piece of fluff was a Bombay. Or, at least, matched the characteristics for a Bombay. Except, Bombay kittens sold upwards of 700 dollars each.

The kitten mewed where it was sitting on her shoulder and gave Elly’s earring a suckle before going full cat loaf and purring itself to sleep. 

“You’re are completely ridiculous cat,” Elly mumbled.

“You need to sleep, treasure,” George commented from the doorway. Elly managed not to jump though she wondered how long he’d been lurking there.

“The shop opens in-”

“The shop is closed for repairs,” George insisted. “Hungover bakers need a day off and you will need to talk to the boy when he wakes.”

Elly sighed. She didn’t like much George telling her what to do, but she couldn’t disagree with him. She nodded as she got up to hang the “Gone Fishing” sign on the door that hadn’t been used since Ina’s death. She then flopped on the couch, pulled down the afghan and fell asleep. 


	9. Chapter 9

The sound of someone pounding on the door was less than an ideal way to be awoken. As was the kitten, who had up to that point had been curled up behind her knees, screeching and bolting. Elly glanced at her watch, she had managed maybe four hours of sleep. The person on the other side of the door pounded again. Groaning, Ellly got to her feet, stomped over to the shop door and wrenched it open. 

“What?!” 

The church ladies were clearly taken aback by her tone. They stared at her in stunned horror. 

“The sign says we’re closed for the day.” Elly announced. 

“I just need-” Posy started to say, but Elly interrupted.

“You need to come back tomorrow.”

Posy narrowed her eyes, “I could just as easily order my yarn off the internet instead, you know!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Elly replied sadly. “Good day then.” She then closed the door on the women’s shocked faces. She leaned against the door for a minute and groaned before rallying the strength to head upstairs. On her way she nearly tripped over the reappeared kitten. 

“Jesus, cat! Learn some self preservation!” Elly scolded as she scooped up the tiny thing. The kitten clamored up her arm to her shoulder and settled in for the trek upstairs. Elly tried to remember where she had stored Mitten’s cat stuff. In all likelihood she probably gave it away when she figured her cat had been eaten...Well she’d need to take the kitten for vaccinations anyways. She could pick up whatever she needed then. First thing on the list, a bell collar. 

Well, that could be second. The first thing she needed was a name. Elly wondered for a moment if George would want any say in that. The thought could wait. First she needed a nap, or possibly a whole lot of coffee. Likely both. 

Ben was just staggering out of the spare room when Elly got back to her apartment. “Shit, boss, I am late getting started this morning.”

Elly sighed, “We are closed today. How are you feeling?”

Ben shrugged, then rubbed his bleary eyes, “Slightly hung over, possible still a little drunk, and baffled that you have a dragon living in your basement.” He looked at her face and frowned, “Did you sleep last night?”

Elly shook her head again, “Not really. I napped.”

Ben winced, “Was that my fault?”

Elly shook her head again, “I was up too late and started getting creeped out by the sounds of the house settling.” Ben really did look awful. “Right!” she announced, making him wince again. “Big glass of water, a couple of aspirin and back to bed.”

Bean groaned, “I would roll my eyes at you except that they feel like they might fall out of my head if I tried.”

Elly snickered under her breath and went to the kitchen for a glass.

“So tell me about George.”

She froze. This was awkward. “I think you should ask him about him. Carefully. I don’t want to offend the dragon in my basement and neither do you.” She filled the glass with water and handed it to him. As Ben drank the water she pulled the aspirin out of the spice drawer.

“Does he breath fire?” he asked, lightly, trying to make a joke.

Elly pursed her lips as she considered that. “More like belches fire, but he can adjust his body temperature to heat the building.”

“You are fucking kidding me!” His eyes went wide as Elly shook her head. “Holy shit.” It was said reverentially, whispered almost like a prayer. Ben took two steps to the left and sat heavily in one of the kitchen chairs.

Elly gave him a sympathetic look. “I am honestly unsure if this conversation would be better once you are sober. It could turn out to be worse.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “Are you planning on quitting?”

“Why would I quit?” Ben asked with a frown.

Elly frowned right back at him. “Because there is a dragon in the basement. And if you tell anyone, they will just think you’re delusional.”

Ben considered this. “You won’t. Think I’m insane, I mean.”

“I’m not really the best judge of sane, Ben.” She sounded sad when she said it. 

There was a long moment of tension before the kitten stropped up against Ben’s leg, causing him to curse and stand up fast enough to knock over his chair. It hit the ground with a clatter and the kitten bolted.

“Was that Muffin?” he mumbled, looking sheepish as he picked up the chair.

Elly frowned, “You mean Mittens? No. George brought it home last night.”

“Like a present? That’s sweet.” After a moment, Ben added “And a little weird. Where did George get a kitten?”

“He said someone killed its mom and littermates. He was vague on the details and I didn’t push. He would have told me if he wanted me to know.”

Ben shivered, “Yeah. I was picking up my spice delivery at the post office last week and overheard the Debbie from the pound saying it was less killing cats and more a plaque of cat mutilations.”

Elly went very still. When Ben finally looked up and met her eyes, she whispered, “Are we talking disemboweling here?”

Ben blinked and stared at her in horror before nodding. “How did you know that?”

Elly spun on her heels and fussed at the sink, giving it a wipe before putting the kettle on the hob. “George was unusually circumspect about what had happened. I couldn’t figure out why, he isn’t usually shy.”   
  


Ben snorted, “I can see that about him.” He watched her face, it was easy to see the wheels turning, but he couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. “If someone is hunting cats, it might be safer to take … um. . . her? Or him? Whatever, take the kitten to a vet a couple of towns over. If you are keeping it, I mean.”

Elly gave him a puzzled look, “Of course I’m keeping it.”

Ben fought a smirk, “You sure? Have you named it yet?” 

Elly considered this. “Nyx, goddess of night.”

Ben snicked, “Really? What if its a boy?”

Elly rolled her eyes, “Ben, I’m not going to enforce gender roles on a kitten.”

Ben just shook his head. “Fine, but when we go to the vet, you get to drive.”

\----

The vet proclaimed Nyx to seem perfectly healthy and old enough for vaccination and FIV testing. They booked her in for a spay in two weeks. Next stop was the pet store.

Ben picked out an adjustable purple collar and neoprene cat harness. Elly gave him a look. “What? You can harness train cats it you get them young enough. I follow Suki Cat on instagram!”

Elly blinked, “Huh. I never would have picked you for a cat person.”

He smirked, “Stupid cat videos is what the internet is for.”

“Really? Because I suspect most people would say porn,” Elly teased, then was surprised when he blushed. She managed to fight the urge to comment on that, and while she was wrestling with her morals, Ben left to go look at cat carriers. Nyx meowed and tightened her tiny claws into Elly’s shoulder where she was sitting. 

“I’m sorry!” she blurted out. “That was rude.”

Ben just waved her away. “More unexpected. I haven’t seen that side of you. You are very, um, professional.” He didn’t make it sound like a compliment. When he realized she was frowning slightly, Ben flashed her a smile. “You are a great boss, Elly.”

Elly coughed, “I’m not actually your boss, you know.”

Ben blushed again. That was new. “Any preference on cat food?”

Realizing he was trying to change the subject, Elly turned to face with wall of food. “Wet food for cats. I’ve never had one do well on kibble.”

“Did, um, your other cats sit on your shoulder like that?”

“Nope, this is a first, but she seems to like it up there.”

They watched each other awkwardly for a moment. Elly broke first. “Ben? Are you OK?”

Ben quickly turned his head to the right and scoped out the litter boxes. “Ina wasn’t that fun to work with,” he admitted. “Most of the time you are. Weird, but fun. I’m starting to understand where the weird comes from. And now I know that too. How do you go through your day knowing something like that?”

Elly sighed. “Ben - Look, tell me about yeast.”

“What?”

Elly rubbed her eyes, making Nyx meow and dig her little claws into Elly’s sweater. “You told me that yeast for bread used to come from beer, then the beer yeast changed and there was a shortage, right?”

Ben frowned, “Yeah, brewers switched from top fermenting to bottom fermenting and that process didn’t make the byproduct that bakers use. But what does that have to do with George?”

“How many people do you think know that?”

“Elly! It doesn’t matter! People knowing or not knowing about yeast doesn’t actually matter!”

Elly just raised an eyebrow, “How does knowing about George matter? Yeast is way more practical on a day to day basis.” Ben stared at her like she was insane. Elly kept talking, “Most people, including me, would consider baking bread or spinning wool or knitting a weird and slightly esoteric hobby. George is just one more weird bit of trivia that you now know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read all the comments. I love all the comments, even if I can't always respond. I am currently (Oct 21-2020) frantically working towards the publishing deadline for the second book in the Mistaken Universe. (Due Nov15) while attending physiotherapy related to my accident last year three days a week for four to five hours at a time and also meeting my patreon commitments and holding down a job as a live in care giver.
> 
> Sleep? Yeah, I remember sleep. These days, I have to make do with napping.
> 
> The reason I bring this up, is that the occasional (weekly) gentle reminder (or three) to publish would be appreciated. 
> 
> Now if you will excuse me, I have to go run from zombies for 45 minutes because the only keeping me out of a full day rehab program was the promise to do the cardio on my own time. (Zombies, Run! couch to 5K is an excellent app and I wholeheartedly recommend it and no, they aren't paying me to say that)


	10. Chapter 10

They had a picnic lunch in a park before heading home. Elly was increasingly concerned as she drove home. Ben had a nap in the front seat while Nyx sat on his lap and purred louder than Elly would have expected from a cat that size.

Killing cats was a horrible thing to have happen in your town, but she was worried this was something else. Wouldn’t George have told her? Did she know him well enough to be able to even judge that?

Elly was expecting Ben to go home when they got back to the shop, but instead he helped carry the cat stuff up to her apartment and started organizing tea for them. He took a quick look in her fridge and started building a charcuterie platter as he waited for the kettle to boil.

“You brought Nyx out of the house in an unmarked box. Then you brought her back in the same way. If she’s a house cat, do you really think you have to worry about some psycho coming for her?”

Elly thumbed through her tea collection while she thought about how to answer that. The smart thing to do would be to change the subject by asking if he wanted chai or Earl Grey. The selfish thing to do would be to answer honestly and hope that she would have someone to talk to about this.

She hedged her bets, “I’m worried that this isn’t just some random psycho. George was a bit off when he told me how he found her.”

“Your dragon was ‘a bit off’,” Ben repeated disbelievingly.

Elly stopped what she was doing and head still bowed, squeezed her eyes shut. “He’s old, Ben. He would recognize the work of an augur. He just might not want me to know that was what is happening.”

Ben was confused, “Like . . . a grain auger?”

Elly stared at her backsplash and shook her head. “You know how some people read tea leaves to predict the future? Like that, but with entrails. Reading cats . . . that is familiar. I remember reading about who did that, but I can’t remember who it was or when it was.”

The kettle whistled, making them both jump. Elly pulled it off the stove top and dug out her teapot.

“Wikipedia?” Ben suggested.

She shook her head again. “Wikipedia will have the easy ones, like birds and dogs. Cats . . . weren’t the usual victims. It was highly ritualized. The temple had to be a perfect square, with only one entrance. There was a whole process to petition a prophecy. It was a big deal. As in, privilege of the emperor or the senate.”

Ben rubbed his eyes and tried to concentrate, “How do you know all that?”

“I like history. I’m a research librarian. Or I would have been, if I had been able to finish my last semester.”

“You are talking about ancient Rome, aren’t you?” Ben asked. “That makes no sense! This isn’t. . .” he trailed off. The woman had a dragon in her basement, perhaps this was a ‘logic need not apply’ situation.

Elly pulled out a jar of her favourite olives. “I’m sorry. I’m mostly thinking out loud here. This isn’t exactly normal conversation.” She looked at her the jar instead of his face when she asked, “Have we scared you off yet?”

“What?”

Now she looked at him, “This is a lot Ben. And none of this should be your problem. I’ll . . . figure out a way to buy you out for the kitchen stuff, or help you look for someone to buy the bakery from you, if you want.”

Ben set down his cheese knife and leaned back, “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily, boss.” He waited for her to look at him and nod before he added, “If George would know about this stuff, can we just ask him?”

Elly smiled a little at the ‘we’ when he said it. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “George is kind of …” she trailed off to think about what to say next. “I can’t talk to him like I would a person, and I haven’t figured out how he works yet.”

Ben poured himself a drop of tea, then frowned when it was still too pale. “I dunno. He seems nice enough. Last night was like being out at the bar with my buddies.”

Elly set the table and wondered if he realized that George had probably learned a lot more about Ben last night than Ben had learned about the dragon.

\----

She was expecting Ben to leave after tea, but instead he cleaned the bakery while she made sales tags for the spinning and weaving supplies. It took a while, but when she was finished she went to check on Ben.

He was once again eating with George. Elly blinked. How was it that Ben was just OK with this? She shook her head at men without any god given sense.

George smiled showing off too many sharp teeth.

“What am I missing?” she asked.

“Oh! Hi boss. I was just telling George about Netflix.”

“Why do you call her boss?” George asked sounding entirely to interested for Elly’s liking.

Ben turned back to the dragon and shrugged, “It’s respectful. It was a bit weird calling Ina by her first name. She didn’t want me calling her ma’am.”

“This isn’t Ina,” George said mildly.

Elly chuckled, knowing full well the dragon probably didn’t remember her name.

Ben was suddenly fidgeting with his glass. “Just a habit, I guess.” Then he looked at her, “I’ll stop if you want me too.”

Elly shrugged. “It’s fine. It took some getting used to; the first week felt like I was in an old mobster movie.”

George nodded, “Keeps you from getting attached.”

Elly looked at him sharply. The dragon winked at her. Ben shifted in his seat.

“What’s an augur?” he asked. Now they were both glaring at him, Ben took another sip of his drink.

“Why would you ask that?” George growled.

Ben shrugged, “Elly was saying -”

“Don’t drag me into this!”

George looked between them.

Elly tensed, “Would you know the work of an augur if you saw it? Is that what happened to the cats?”

George held her gaze for a moment, then tilted his head in silent agreement.

“Who would do that?” Ben asked. “It isn’t exactly common practice anymore. Who would even know how?”

Elly sighed, “That isn’t the right question. Anyone who is interested in research can learn how.”

“Why then?” he started, “No. That’s still the wrong question. Who ever is doing it could be motivated by the voices in their head telling them to.”

George snorted. “Maybe, but it is equally possible that they are looking for something.”

Elly was watching him, “George, do you know what is going on?”

“I could guess. The sort of person who believes in augury is the sort of person who would believe that dragons sleep on heaps of gold or have mystical powers.”

“Do you?” Ben asked hesitantly.

Elly raised an eyebrow at George who chuckled, “Not anymore lad. Traded my gold for land and regular old money long ago.”

“Yeah,” Elly teased, “now it’s the lawyers doing the guarding of the treasure.”

“But the person doing this, might not know that right?”

Elly looked thoughtful. For the first time since they had met, George gave Ben a look of admiration.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's back

George wasn’t used to being surrounded by humans who were smart. No, that was unkind. He wasn’t used to humans who were knowledgeable. He didn’t have any trouble guessing what the augur was doing or what it was they were looking for. There were a lot of stories about dragon blood having life giving properties. George sighed, being careful not to steam his tunnel any more than he had to.

The stories were all false, of course. Or maybe not. He took care of his treasures and for hundreds of years they had all lived significantly longer than was usual. He could see how the uneducated could reach that understanding. This new one, though. She was not uneducated. He would need some time to get to know her.

All the more reason he should be keeping her close. He would have to decide what to do about the boy. The lad wasn’t one of George’s treasures, but he was starting to feel like it.

That night, after Ben left, George followed Elly upstairs to her apartment. She glared at him for a moment, but didn’t actually tell him no. This was progress.

“Do you care for the - for Ben?”

She hesitated on her way to the kitchen. “Yeah, I mean I guess.”

“Do you desire him?”

“Whoa! That’s inappropriate. Ben works for me! Well, at least with me. Um, dating would be messy when we broke up and he was still in my space everyday.”

George hummed for a moment, thinking that over. “You didn’t actually answer the question, treasure.”

Elly turned and snarled at him. “It doesn’t matter! Whether I feel nothing or I spend six hours a day with a vibrator between my legs, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to live here the rest of my life and die another old maid sacrificed to you.”

George stared at her in shock. Elly felt the anger drain away. “I’m -” she started to apologize.

“What’s a vibrator?” George asked, curious.

“You have got to be kidding me!”

George tilted his head slightly, eyes still watching her.

“Really?”

“I honestly don’t understand, Elly. There are many things I don’t want to tell you that I have nonetheless explained so that you can understand.”

Elly muttered to herself. George watched as she gave herself a pep talk under her breath. “A vibrator is a machine designed to give sexual pleasure. Usually for women, but sex toys have equal opportunity designers these days.”

“Huh. Does it hum? I couldn’t figure out where the humming was coming from up here but -”

“Can we stop talking about this? Please!”

George shrugged. “I don’t think Ina had -” he looked at Elly’s face and stopped. “This is really very uncomfortable for you, isn’t it?”

Groaning Elly, flopped onto one of the sofas. Then snorted as she realized it was a conveniently placed fainting couch. “I’m not a virgin. I had been dating a guy for three years when Ina died. I like sex. He was good at sex. He didn’t want to marry me and now I have here. Discussing my lack of sex life with a dragon. How is that my life?”

George was frowning at her. “I am condemned to live out my days hiding in a basement. How is that my life?” 

Elly stopped to stare at him again. “I didn’t ever ... But dragons … I don’t know a tactful way to say this but we are way past that now. What’s your sex life like, George?”

“Nonexistent. The idea behind this arrangement was that the women I was sent would keep me company. Ina was content to lock me in the basement. You are having sex with a machine and have Ben as a back up -”

“Hey! I didn’t say -”

“And I am facing another fifty years alone hoping that the next one of you who turns up will be able to spend more than a few hours with me before she has to leave.”

“Wait. You are being hunted by an augur. How did we end up talking about our lack of sex lives?”

George sat back on his hind legs, and watched her for a while. “Because I desire you. And I don’t hate Ben. It would be safer for him to stay here, but I’m not happy dividing your attention even further. I am trying not to be completely selfish here, but I am not happy being celibate. Except that if you desire him, then I don’t have a chance to win your affection.”

“Jesus Christ, you are serious!”

George narrowed his eyes and growled, “Yes.”

“How would that even work?”

Now he smirked, “Would you like me to demonstrate? I too am very good at sex.”

Elly narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Lizard sex is very different from mammal sex.”

George was still watching her. “I’m not a lizard, and I can do things with my tongue,” he said, flicking it at her. He was pleased when that made her blush. “You have nothing to fear from me, treasure. I am not going to do anything to hurt you. I learned better than that a thousand years ago.”

\----

Elly was dreaming about Jeremey. He had her knees up to her chest and was thrusting hard and deep in the way that was going to make her legs start shaking at any moment.

Then the pressure on her chest started to purr and she woke up to realize it was the cat.

“Fuck.” Elly moved the cat off the bed and leaned over to open the drawer on her night stand. She froze as she remembered George could hear her. The kitten jumped up on the nightstand to strop against her outstretched hand. Elly flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

She could feel the presence in the room.

Then something George had said came back to her. She jumped out of bed and stormed down the stairs, kitten trailing after her. She threw open the door to the cellar and shouted, “What do you mean he would be safer here?”

She could see George’s eyes glowing faintly in the dark. She would have turned back but the kitten half ran, half tumbled down the stairs.

“You smell delicious, Elly.”

“Just answer the question, damn it!”

George yawned, and lit the tiny lamp on the table. “If someone is trying to get to me, the only people close enough to me are you and the boy. Easiest way to me, is through you.”

“Oh.”

“Off to play with your toys now? It’s a shame, I am certainly better at post coital cuddles that a machine.”

“George? It feels like there is someone watching me when I’m alone in my apartment.”

“Don’t worry about that. This house may not be old, but the property is. It has more than a few ghosts. None of them are malicious, merely curious.”

Elly stared into the basement at the dragon who was watching her. She didn’t believe in ghosts, but most people didn’t believe in dragons so she had to admit there was a chance she could be wrong.

Nyx had climbed onto George’s shoulder and was purring madly. It was hard to look at that and see him as threatening.

“Tell me about the women who lived here before Ina.”

“Come downstairs and listen.”

Elly curled up in the leather armchair and listened as George told her about his first love, Silene. 


	12. Chapter 12

Ben noticed that Elly was still not her normal self. Despite selling two spinning wheels and having a loom put on layaway, she was tense and unhappy. The knitters weren’t helping. Posy, Cloe, and Lashandra spent the morning giving her the stink eye. Which Ben thought was unfair since she was letting them use her store as an unofficial community hall.

He wasn’t in the best mood, either. It was only September and people were already asking for pumpkin spice. Then Elly said something that made his blood run cold.

Mrs Douglas was smiling as her husband and son carried her spinning wheel out to the car when she asked, “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, dear, but why the sale now?”

Elly groaned and rubbed the back of her neck. “To be honest, Millie, the shop isn’t actually making much of a profit. Spinning wheels and looms take up a lot of floor space and don’t generate a lot of revenue. I would be making better money if I shut the store down and just ran it as an internet yarn supplier.”

That stopped all the conversation in the place.

Mrs Douglas looked horrified. Most of the ladies on the couches looked shocked. The three annoying old biddies that were the source of most of the customer problems in the store, looked smug. Ben wasn’t a fan of them. Cloe never bought anything, but turned up every week to show off the deals she got on yarn at Walmart. Posy routinely tripped the breakers by rearranging the lights. Lashandra always complained about Ben’s food and Elly’s stock.

In Ben’s opinion, she would be better off evicting all three of them. But they had been really close with Ina towards the end. That and the knitters might boycott the store if they felt that Elly was slighting her customers. Yeah. He could completely understand why she would want out. It just didn’t look good for him. There were still almost two years left in his contract where he was taking up a lot of space - a quarter of the floor space - but not generating any money for the store.

The people who shopped here were friendly enough, mostly, but Elly didn’t really have anyone she could hang out with. It made sense. If she needed to stay home with George at night, that would explain a lot. She was always friendly, easily identifiable as a hugger. But she always just looked sad when he invited her out. Not that he expected her to be falling at his feet, but those two sides of her personality just didn’t match.

Ben felt on edge for the rest of the day. Elly had barely turned the sign to closed and locked the door when he asked, “Is this a going out of business sale?”

Elly shook her head. “I can’t leave town, Ben. You know that. But, yeah, it’s a going out of the yarn business sale.” She turned to look at him and whatever she saw on his face, made her hasten to add, “I have a plan! If we put up french doors, just past the bathrooms, and another set on your outside wall, then you could be self contained and,” she stressed the last word, “have a patio to use when the weather is nice. Let’s be honest, you don’t make much money off the knitters. Mostly it’s people stopping in despite it being a fibre store, not because of it.”

“And you are going to set up an internet based store?” he asked carefully.

Elly shrugged. “I would love to be a rare book dealer, but I can’t exactly travel to auctions. I have to stay and keep George company.”

Ben frowned. “Does it have to be you keeping him company?”

“I can’t exactly get a sitter in,” Elly snapped. Ben tensed, she noticed. “Sorry. That was rude.”

“I’ll forgive you this time because I know you are under stress. George doesn’t need a babysitter, he just needs company. I’m not exactly chopped liver, you know.”

She gaped at him. Ben shrugged, “You can think about it, but I’m making the offer.”

“Thank you.”

\----

George wasn’t even sure how to kill a human anymore. It used to be easy. Swoop in, pick them up, crunch them up and swallow. Then it was a little harder and involved setting their house on fire by flaming down their chimney. That came back to bite him in the past, didn’t it just. These days, it seemed like a bad idea to be seen. They had cameras everywhere. He could handle a few humans, but they were like wasps. They might be able to sting, but you were fine until they swarmed.

He had a live and let live policy. But if they came after his treasure, he was prepared to burn the village to the ground. George blew a smoke ring as he considered that. It wasn’t that he begrudged humans their new understanding. It was just so damned inconvenient sometimes.

It seemed ridiculous that he should have to deal with hiding because science had proven he didn’t exist while at the same time having to figure out how to find and eliminate an augur. He liked the new evolution of witches, why did he have to stumble across someone going old school?

He wondered again, if he was the last or if there were others hiding in basements and attics around the world? He remembered in the 1960’s there were rumours about alligators in the sewers in New York. That had given him some pause, but there was no way to investigate. He had also heard a few stories of wildfires over the wireless that struck him as suspicious, but he couldn’t be sure if that was just wishful thinking.

His kind had been around when humans were not particularly successful monkeys falling out of trees and were only surviving because of their short reproductive cycle.

He wanted to be out hunting, but that wasn’t how it worked any more. It wouldn’t be an army coming for him. It would be someone ransoming Elly and him having to decide exactly how much he valued her. If it had been the last woman, well, that one would have been on her own.

Hmm.

That was a fair point. Ina was old and then she was dead. He hadn’t put much thought into it. However the augur hadn’t turned up until after Elly had. Which suggested, either it was her or it was someone targeting her.

Or, possibly someone scrying to see when the best time to take her was.

George growled to himself. She was nearly the last of his treasure that was still stored on site. Damned if he was going to let anyone steal from him.


	13. Chapter 13

The crafters were nervous. Elly had taken over the space that had been for spinning with crafting books. Not just yarn related crafts, which they would have understood, but sewing, quilting and cooking too. Lashandra had organized Posy and Cloe to bring over a gift basket for Elly in the most insulting way possible. 

“I’m sorry business isn’t good dear. But don’t worry! The community will support you! The town may be too small to have much of a food bank, but here are some things to help out.”

Elly wanted to kick the women’s teeth in.

She put all the roving on sale at cost and reduced her hours to five days a week instead of six. And she hired workmen to come in the night and build the partition wall between the yarn shop and the bakery. The stairs made the perfect division point and the trust paid extra for them to come in on a Friday afternoon and be finished by Monday morning.

That also meant the crafters were there when the construction started.

Elly felt a little bad for stressing out the nice old ladies, but the bitches three were ruining it for everyone.

Ben was noticeably worried but forcing himself to remain calm, so Elly had him over for dinner that Friday. She showed him the architect's drawing and the planning permission from the town. Ben listened carefully and poured the wine. Then he asked the question she was not expecting.

“What does George think of all of this?”

“What do you mean? The partition wall still has double french doors and is in keeping with the style of the house. He isn’t involved in the business. What difference would it make?

Ben stared hard at his wine glass. “Elly. The workmen are going to be here almost around the clock for the next two days. How are you going to be able to smuggle food down there for him? Nevermind visiting! Is George in solitary lock up for the whole weekend?”

Elly opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. “It will be fine,” she finally muttered.

“Really? Because how comfortable would you be locked in the basement, alone in the dark for three days? I would be pretty pissed off.”

Elly pressed her lips together and picked at the nail bed on her thumb for a moment.

“Fuck it!” Ben announced. “George likes spicy food. I’m ordering from that Indian place. I’ll take it and my laptop down there. We can have guys movie night if you aren’t going to do anything.”

Elly still didn’t know what to say. ‘Hey Ben, George is trying to seduce me,’ wasn’t going to fly. Except, was that even what this was? He said he desired her, then promptly went back to what was normal for them. He hadn’t brought it up again and it had been over a week. “Now there’s a thought,” was the best she could come up with.

“How territorial is he?” Ben asked. Elly choked. “It’s just,” he started again, “if he isn’t too freaked out about people in his space, I would bring over a sleeping bag and -”

“And have a slumber party?” Elly asked, raising an eyebrow. “Will you be having half naked pillow fights while you’re at it?”

“Only if you join in,” Ben replied without missing a beat.

Elly gritted her teeth. She didn’t really like the idea of Ben down there alone with George. And it pissed her off that she hadn’t thought about how the construction would affect them while it was happening. She had been focused on getting to the end and had lost track of the details. 

Nyx decided that her person’s moment of stillness was the ideal time to jump into Elly’s lap and demand affection.

“I don’t think your cat is growing, Elly. Is she ok?”

“What? Oh! Yeah. She’s fine. She is getting heavier. I’ve been using my kitchen scale to make sure. I just don’t think she’s going to be a big cat. Probably just as well, since she thinks she’s a parrot.”

As if to prove her point, Nyx climbed Elly’s shirt, ignoring the wincing as her claws pricked and settled in to hide in Elly’s hair. Elly sighed and took another sip of her wine. Nyx hissed at Ben when he laughed at them.

“Yes, yes you are a ferocious and terrifying beast,” Elly muttered reaching up and making scritching motions for Nyx to lean against.

“What does she think of all of this?” Ben asked.

“Nothing as far as I can tell. She has been riding around in my pocket at work since I got her and no one has noticed. I’m going to end up getting her one of those cat wearing things at some point.”

Ben nodded, “They have ones that look like Pokémon balls.”

“I was thinking more the Baby Bjorn like in that comic strip.”

“Oh my god! You are joking, right?”

Elly just smirked.

\----

Dragon and curry sleepover was more work to set up than they thought. First thing was to talk to George. He hesitantly agreed. Then Elly moved the cat box downstairs. Ben brought over some sleeping bags and air mattresses. Then Elly had to organize a 50 foot extension cord to run the pumps to inflate them. Fortunately, the workmen had one and didn’t ask too many questions.

Ben went for food, Elly brought down a cooler and a box of wine. Then she had to explain the concept to George and put up with his disdain at the very idea. He let it go when she pointed out it meant they could stay down there longer.

Next was her string of christmas lights. That only took a six foot extension cord under the door and they nicely lit up the stairs and brightened the tiny room at the bottom of them. Elly had been aware of the space being much bigger than just a table and chair underneath the heating ducts, but the light certainly emphasized that this was only one corner of a much bigger structure.

“It’s like the Mines of Moria down here,” she muttered.

To her surprise, George burst out laughing. “Fewer orcs and goblins, but there is a dragon so more like Erebor.”

Elly just stared at him. George stopped laughing and held out his hands. “My claws tear the paper, but many of your predecessors have been kind enough to read to me. I was quite fond of Tolkien, but I believe the Ents were written specifically to annoy Lewis.”

Elly squeaked, then coughed to clear her throat, “What, uh, what did you think of Lewis?”

George shrugged, “Not bad but his religion was showing.”

Elly just stood there, frozen on the spot. George sighed and pointed upwards. “Did you notice the arches? In the 1300’s they called that fornication.”

Elly looked up. She hadn’t noticed before, but the ceiling was vaulted and carefully covered in mosaic tiles. “Who rib vaults a basement?” she murmured.

George snorted, “People with money. Come, treasure, you can help me move the table.”

Elly was prepared to let that one slide, it was starting to grow on her.

She was not prepared to deal with the table. “I have a couple of questions. How many people are you expecting that you think we need a table that big and how the hell do you expect me to help move that monstrosity?”

George was suddenly absolutely still. Elly hadn’t really noticed how some part of him was always moving, even if it was just his tail twitching until it wasn’t.

“It is the table that I have. Based on Ben’s description of the food, you won’t be eating it sitting on the floor.”

“I’m sorry,” Elly said softly. “That was rude.”

George nodded.

“I have a card table we could use,” she suggested. “Or maybe … do you have a large footstool or a flat topped chest?”

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “A treasure chest?”

“Well, I was thinking more like a steamer trunk.”

“That I have.”

\----

Ben came back with enough food to feed an army, a second cooler, this one full of beer, two sleeping bags and a box full of random blankets. He also brought his laptop, a small projector and a roll of duct tape. The tape plus a white sheet made a good enough screen, and the workmen weren’t getting their extension cord back.

Ben was spreading the food out on the impromptu table when he asked, “Did you pick out a movie yet?”

“How about Lord of the Rings?” Elly suggested. “It’s long enough to keep us busy for most of the weekend.”

Ben laughed, “It is if we watch The Hobbit first.”

“I should save room for popcorn,” Elly mused.

“You should, but will you?”

“Not a chance,” she replied with a grin.

“I am not following this conversation,” George said flatly.

“You said you liked Tolkien. They made movies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings,” Elly explained.

George considered this. “I have seen 8mm films before. The picture moves, but the people do not speak.”

Ben grinned, “You watched silent films?”

“He might mean home movies. Was it Ann who you watched movies with?” Elly asked politely.   
  


“Yes. Her family would send her films of them,” the dragon explained cautiously.

“The technology has changed a bit since then,” Elly was trying to be diplomatic.

George snorted, “As it is wont to do.”


End file.
